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Amid freezing rain, flurries, and a swirling wind off the banks of the Humber, alongside a resolute home side fighting for promotion, this presented all the makings of a difficult night's work for Chelsea.

"We might have added to our tally but Hull are a good team and it was a difficult tie; I am delighted with the performance," the manager stated. "Hull City means a lot to me so it was great to get a good welcome from both sets of supporters. The attitude of the lads was excellent."

Liam Chelsea manager has this city close to his heart, considering some of his family hail from Hull and his successful period in management of the Championship club. His positive connection was extended with a magnificent performance from his team, who ultimately sauntered into the next round of the famous old competition.

Deadly Finishing Secures Comfortable Victory

Seventy-two hours after letting slip a 2-0 advantage in the Premier League, there was a sniff of vulnerability about Chelsea going into this potentially tricky tie. The capacity home support clearly sensed it too, but Rosenior's men handled the task perfectly.

Rosenior rang the changes, making multiple of them to his XI. The tie could and maybe should have been decided long before it actually was, with two the Brazilian winger and the forward guilty of spurning excellent opportunities to put Chelsea in front in the opening period.

But, fortunately for the visitors, their Portuguese attacker was in a far more clinical frame of mind. He opened the deadlock with a spectacular distance effort, which acted as the catalyst for his team to assume command of the match. By full time, they had 4 goals, with Neto netting three of them for a brilliant three-goal haul.

The Forward's Response and Impact

The home side showed great spirit throughout, but the better opportunities always came to the visitors. Estêvão ought to have broken the deadlock when he went past goalkeeper the Hull stopper before inexplicably shooting over. Delap then had a comparable nightmare moment in front of goal against his old team.

He blocked a the goalkeeper's kick which came off the crossbar, and he started to run away thinking the ball had crossed the line. It hadn’t, and by the time he realised, Hull's backline had responded to clear the danger.

The player had his head in his hands after that miss, but he was hugely influential from there on out, registering 3 assists. The first was for the first goal as his through ball teed up his teammate to score from range. Six minutes after the restart, it was 2-0 as the forward's corner went straight in under the keeper's legs.

Contest Sealed and Attention Turns

Seven minutes after Neto’s second, the tie was effectively ended as a dazzling run from Delap laid on his teammate to tap into an unguarded goal. Neto then finished his treble as Delap again delivered the crucial pass for the striker to coolly convert past a helpless Phillips.

At that point, the work Hull had done in the opening half-hour had been erased. Their focus must now return to securing a return to the top division under their manager, who rested several first-choice individuals with that goal in mind.

"In my opinion we deserved at least one goal but if we perform like this we will be in a very good position in the league," he said. "Keep fighting, maybe in the upcoming games this can be a positive lesson of how we must play."

Hull showed plenty of endeavour to the final whistle, and they almost claimed a consolation when Lewis Koumas struck a post in stoppage time. But this was the Blues' evening, and another positive stride for their new head coach at a place he is familiar with intimately.

FA Cup Omens Look Good

The result resulted in an in the end routine evening’s performance, and the cup competition omens are good from here for the winners. They have faced Hull on three previous occasions in this tournament in the past ten years and every single time, they have gone on to make the showpiece. Much still work in that respect, but this was another huge tick for the Chelsea boss.